Schwartz: Mandate Relief is a long-term effort

While a lot of attention today has focused on Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s workforce plans, including a proposed Tier VI pension plan and a new level of flexibility in hiring and deploying civil servants, the governor’s Mandate Relief Council made its formal debut as well. They stressed that they plan to be around for a while, unlike the temporary Mandate Relief Redesign Team which offered some modest suggestions in a final report late last year.

“Mandate relief is not a one-year task,” stressed Larry Schwartz, Cuomo’s secretary who has headed both the Team and now leads the Council.

The 11-member Council will continue to explore ways to trim or even reduce unneeded mandates, or regulations that are imposed on local governments and school districts which drive up their costs, and the amount of money they charge property taxpayers.

In addition to exploring ways to cut these mandates or bureaucratic orders, the council also will serve as an appeals venue for local governments that have tried to ease regulations through the normal administrative channels but which have failed.

For instance, Schwartz, who is pictured here on the right with Secretary of State Cesar Perales, explained, if a town or school system wants relief from a law or rule they can go to the appropriate state agency and seek a waiver or exemption. If that is denied, though, they will now be able to appeal to members of the new Council.

Schwartz said there has long been a mechanism for seeking exemptions from certain state rules but localities apparently find that to be cumbersome — only one such exemption has been sought in over a decade. Hopefully, Council members believe, having an appeals process will make it more worthwhile to seek exemptions in the first place.

The number and scope of mandates or rules can be dizzying. Schwartz, for instance, mentioned a state rule that had forced school districts in some instances to use large full-size buses on some routes, even when they could make do with a smaller van or mini-bus. They have since moved to ease that rule but schools are saddled with countless similar rules — most of which cost money.

Or, GOP Senator Betty Little, who serves on the Council, spoke of a rule governing the kinds of safety ropes that firefighters must use. Fire companies statewide must have ropes than can work in three-story buildings, even though some communities in her North Country district have no three-story buildings at all.

She suggested that fire companies, where warranted, could seek waivers to these one-size-fits-all regulations. If the waivers were denied, they could then appeal to the Council.

The Council, Schwartz added, plans to “really do a deep dive into the regulatory process.”